Antioxidant capacity of some edible and wound healing plants in Oman

An ethnobotanical review of the uses of plants in Oman led us to investigate some edible and wound-healing herbs for antioxidant activity, using in vitro DPPH and phosphomolybdenum assay methods. Of the 19 plants investigated, the aqueous ethanol extracts of Becium dhofarense, Pulicaria crispa, Allophylus rubifolius, Olea europaea, Acacia senegal, Pluchea arabica, Anogeissus dhofarica, Moringa peregrina, Cordia perrottettii, Ficus lutea and Acalypha indica showed the best inhibition of DPPH radical at 89–93%, after 15 min of incubation at a test concentration of 50 μg/ml. The lowest IC 50values of 4.45 and 7.11 μg/ml were observed for the ethanol extracts of A. dhofarica and A. rubifolius. The highest total antioxidant capacity as gallic acid equivalents of 1790, 913, 814, 893 mg/g of ethanol extracts were obtained for P. crispa, O. europaea, M. peregrina and Caralluma quadrangula in the phosphomolybdenum assay. A. dhofarica an endemic plant, is active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. The uses of the plants are rationalised on the basis of their antioxidant capacity.